In 1983, Mike O’Connor opened the Bird Watcher’s General Store on Cape Cod, which might well have been the first store devoted solely to birding in the United States. Since that time he has
answered thousands of questions about birds, both at his store and while walking down the aisles of the supermarket. The questions have ranged from inquiries about individual species (“Are
flamingos really real?”) to what and when to feed birds (“Should I bring in my feeders for the summer?”) to the down-and-dirty specifics of backyard birding (“Why are the birds dropping
poop in my pool?”). Answering the questions has been easy; keeping a straight face has been hard. Finally, it occurred to O’Connor that if he answered these questions in print, he might be
able to buy groceries in peace.
Why Don’t Woodpeckers Get Headaches? is the solution for the beginning birder who already has a book that explains the slight variation between Common Ground-Doves and Ruddy Ground-Doves
but who is really much more interested in why birds sing at 4:30 A.M. instead of 7:00 A.M., or whether it’s okay to feed bread to birds, or how birds rediscover your feeders so quickly when
you’ve just filled them after a long vacation. Or, for that matter, whether flamingos are really real.
“Mike O’Connor knows birds—I mean, REALLY knows them. He has been answering questions about birds for years, and he can deliver the straight scoop with a hilarious twist that makes it
unforgettable. Reading this book is almost as fun as bird watching, and that’s saying a lot!” —Kenn Kaufman, author of the Kaufman Field Guide to the Birds of North America
“O’Connor’s book delightfully answers almost any question one could ask about birds. I am impelled to declare that the Chesworth pen and ink drawings add a sprinkling of ‘salt‘ to
O’Connor’s bird tales. This is a fun book to read, whether nibbled at a bit at a time, or in one large clump.” —New Hampshire Union Leader
“This is quite possibly the funniest bird book ever written. O’Connor has broken the mold of straight-laced bird books.” —WildBird
Mike O’Connor is the owner of the Bird Watcher’s General Store on Cape Cod. His column, Ask the Bird Folks, appears in The Cape Codder, and his writing has been included in The Best
American Science and Nature Writing 2004. He lives in Orleans, Massachusetts.
